Humanity’s problem now lies in realizing that the only right exit out of the crisis lies in correcting human relationships from egoistic to altruistic. Returning to business relations without correcting human relations will lead to a huge crisis!

When the bestowing intention fills the whole gap inside of the will to enjoy, we can then use this water to irrigate the earth and revive the crops, and let the animals drink: the donkeys, camels or people, and gradually reach corrections. Digging wells is the beginning of the spiritual work.

To dig up a well is to receive an intention for the sake of bestowal within a corrupt desire, plain earth. We must find a place for the well, come to feel a deficiency, and begin digging up the ground until the hollow in the earth begins filling up with water, the qualities of Bina, i.e., aspirations to work for the sake of bestowal.

Separating the egoistic intention from desire is possible only by uniting with friends. Together we dig up the common desire, as a house is built on piling: holes are dug up and filled with concrete, and then the building is erected vertically over it.
We dig up the egoistic intentions and in its place we put down intentions for the sake of bestowal.

By acquiring intentions for the sake of bestowal, man can shift his rock (stony heart) that’s plugging the well, and then everyone will be able to enjoy the water from the well. The well-hole filled with water, i.e. the light of Hassadim, is a well filled with living water.
The light of Hassadim endows the earth with strength, granting a new harvest.
From Twitter, 11/26/20

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Thrive Global published my new article: “Physical Microevolution Reflects Giant Evolution in the Spirit”

The main attribute that is evolving in us now is our sociability. We are shifting from “survival of the fittest” to “survival of the friendliest.”

Surprisingly, humanity is still evolving, even physically. Moreover, we are accelerating our evolution. According to researchers from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, who published their findings in the Journal of Anatomy, “A lot of people thought humans have stopped evolving. But our study shows we are still evolving — faster than at any point in the past 250 years.” As a result of this accelerated evolution, babies are being “born without wisdom teeth and with an extra artery in their arm, while other babies are born with shorter faces, smaller jaws and extra bones in their legs and feet,” they explain. These are not abnormalities; they are natural mutations in healthy babies.

If we get through the next few years without destroying ourselves through war and bloodshed, we will come out the other end of the internal revolution strong, united, and happy.
Michael Laitman

But these changes indicate more than physical evolution. They reflect the profound transformation we are going through in our mindsets. Tomorrow’s children will differ from us in much more than an extra artery or fewer teeth. They will think differently, feel differently, communicate differently, and will therefore build a very different world. They will literally be a different species. We are now in the midst of a historic transformation, which is why humanity is so unsure about its future.

We are moving into an era where we will not feel ourselves as distinct individuals, but as an organism composed of myriad cells and organs spread out across the globe. The advancing globalization and interdependence we have witnessed over the past century will shift from the outside to the inside. We will feel connected not only in consuming commodities, but in our minds and hearts.

Already, the coronavirus pandemic has shown us that we are dependent on each other for our health. Gradually, we will learn that we are dependent on each other for our thoughts and feelings, our aspirations, dreams, and goals in life. We will discover that we cannot leave one part of the planet unattended since that would be as if we have neglected part of ourselves.

It is nothing like anything we’ve ever experienced. It is not communism or even socialism, but a new, social mindset of mutual accountability, a desire to feel close to all the people in the world simply because they really are a part of me.

Currently, we are baffled and afraid for our future. But anyone who fosters connection among people above all the differences should know that he or she is going in the right direction.

If we are afraid of diversity today, tomorrow we will embrace it. We will cherish those micro differences between us in our minds, bodies, cultures, faiths, and habits as they will enrich our lives with color and vitality.

The main attribute that is evolving in us now is our sociability. We are shifting from “survival of the fittest” to “survival of the friendliest.” The transition period may be tumultuous, but we can go through it quickly and pleasantly if we go through it together.

If we get through the next few years without destroying ourselves through war and bloodshed, we will come out the other end of the internal revolution strong, united, and happy. But this will happen only if we act in unison toward this goal. If we do not, then nature will impel us in its myriad horrendous ways to transform ourselves regardless of our wishes.
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— Published on November 25, 2020

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can I not be afraid about coronavirus?“

I think that the coronavirus will keep spreading and that it will lead us to a situation where we will be simultaneously afraid of it, and accustomed to its place in our daily lives. Moreover, our fear of the virus will have no impeding effect on our day-to-day functioning.

We can add the coronavirus to a long list of risks that we have learned to live with. Yet, we would be wise to learn how to observe a few rules that the coronavirus sends our way. Moreover, we can expect other crises to surface, and at each juncture we will have to adjust ourselves.

In the future, we will also look back at the coronavirus pandemic in a positive light, in that it served to align humanity’s relations more closely with nature’s interdependence and interconnectedness.

Firstly, it compelled us to consider how we were living our lives, and think of how we could renew and improve our relations.

Secondly, it slowed down the consumerist train we were riding, giving us room to differentiate between our life’s essentials and what we could do without.

Thirdly, it showed us clear examples of how nature restores itself when we calmed ourselves down for a few moments.

We are still in the midst of a major lesson in interdependence that this virus brings us, from the need to exercise mutual dependence in our respective localities—maintaining personal hygiene, wearing masks and upholding social distancing conditions—to witnessing our tight global interdependence in how the virus surfaced as an outbreak in one part of the world, and quickly spread to become a global pandemic.

I have spoken and written at length about crises being opportunities for us to seek better connection with each other, and that they serve to progress us to a state of balance with nature.

Fighting the coronavirus head on is futile. We will increasingly discover how viruses are impossible to fight. They are inside us. Our bodies have billions of viruses, and so there is no point in fighting our own bodies. We would thus be much wiser if we learned how to align ourselves—our thoughts and desires—to positively connect with other people and nature. Our bodies will then healthily support our aspirations to realize the fullest meaning of living as human beings, i.e., adjusting our attitudes to each other in order to match the tightening interdependent and interconnected conditions that nature sets for us. We will then experience life much more happily and healthily.

Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash.

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Thrive Global published my new article: “Hubris Kills”

If I could advise rulers on the most essential asset to their countries, I would tell them that education for connection is their number one requirement for successful governance.

Hubris is one of our most fundamental, yet destructive traits. There is even an academic name for it: illusory superiority. Basically, it means that most people think they are better than they really are in most aspects of life. We tend to overestimate our qualities and abilities in most everything we do, say, or think. We tend to overestimate our cognitive abilities, health habits, driving skills, and intelligence.

Especially today, lack of connection, hatred, and alienation are ruining everything. We are unique individuals, we will stay unique, and we should stay unique. However, unless we are taught how to use our uniqueness for the common good, our uniqueness will bring upon us nothing but bloodshed and death, instead of prosperity and joy.
Michael Laitman

We even think that we are more bias-resistant than we actually are. Researchers call it the “bias blind spot,” which basically means we describe ourselves as less susceptible to bias than other people. But if, for example, 68 percent of surveyed faculty at the University of Nebraska rate themselves in the top 25 percent for teaching ability, and 94 percent rate themselves as above average, some of them have to be unrealistic about themselves since the numbers simply don’t add up. The same goes for Masters of Business Administration students at Stanford University, 87 percent of whom rated their academic performance as above the median.

One of the key explanations that researchers have found to the phenomenon of illusory superiority is, not surprisingly, egocentrism. In other words, most of us are too selfish to see ourselves for who we truly are.

Hubris, or illusory superiority, would be amusing if it didn’t cost us heavily. It makes us think we can beat the other traders in the stock market and we end up losing money. It makes us think we have a good chance of winning the lottery so it’s worthwhile to spend more and more money on it, or on other forms of gambling, when in fact, our chances are near zero. It makes us engage in unhealthy eating habits thinking that we can beat the odds and not be affected by our poor nutrition. It also makes us take unnecessary and unwise risks on the road believing that nothing will happen to us. But people die and become maimed for the rest of their lives because of these misjudgments. These errors don’t impact only the people who make them, but often other people, too, whose only “crime” was that they were present when the misjudgment occurred.

However, while egoism is indeed the primary cause of hubris, there is a good reason for it, and a good solution. The sense of uniqueness is common to all of us. Each of us is indeed unique and it is good that this is so, provided we use it correctly.

Just as no two cells in our body are the same, no two people in the organism of humanity are the same. Each cell in our body is unique, just like us, since each cell has a unique task. When it performs its task, it contributes to the whole body. In other words, only when the cell uses its unique characteristic to benefit the entire body, its uniqueness contributes to the well-being of the collective, the organism, and we become healthy. If it uses its uniqueness for any purpose other than to improve the common good, it becomes harmful to the body and must be ejected from it.

So do we: When we use our uniqueness for the benefit of society, we help society, which in turn supports us and our unique self-expression. When we use our uniqueness for any other purpose, such as to accumulate wealth or power, we become injurious to society. In that case, we have one of two options: Either we change our ways and use our uniqueness for the common good, or stay as we are and society, at some point, will eject us. Therefore, the only way to define positivity and negativity is by defining whether one’s actions benefit society or harm it.

Currently, we are clearly using our traits negatively. It is no one’s fault; it is how we are all born and how we are all brought up. Nevertheless, if we keep this up, we will destroy one another. In fact, we are already on the edge.

Mutual consideration doesn’t come naturally to egocentric beings. Education is therefore a necessary tool in shifting our mindset from “me first” to “we first.” If I could advise rulers on the most essential asset to their countries, I would tell them that education for connection is their number one requirement for successful governance.

Especially today, lack of connection, hatred, and alienation are ruining everything. We are unique individuals, we will stay unique, and we should stay unique. However, unless we are taught how to use our uniqueness for the common good, our uniqueness will bring upon us nothing but bloodshed and death, instead of prosperity and joy.
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— Published on November 25, 2020

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Comment: Scientists have identified at least five of the most common fears: fear of epidemics, fear of social isolation, fear of complete virtualization of life, fear of having children, and fear of interference with the human genome.

My Response: All these types of fears occur today. Moreover, thanks to the pandemic, they have opened up even more. I think that this moves us forward.

Question: How can I overcome fear or ease this transition?

Answer: Only by our connection above all problems—not physical connection, but in mutual assistance, benevolence, and understanding each other. Then we will be able to create such channels of balance, connection, and communication between us, which will make our life good.

And the fact that we still have to distance ourselves from each other is also for our benefit because with our current relationships, we can only harm each other.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 11/6/20

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Question: Baal HaSulam writes that no amount of education can make altruists out of egoists. How do you explain to people that taking care of society is more important than their own interests and is aimed at their benefit?

Answer: There is no way. If you could convert this into money, then you could convince them. However, this would not be a concern for society, but a concern for a higher salary.

Question: Can we conclude that the main motivation in our work is the goal to reveal the upper force, the upper energy?

Answer: This is the main motivation. The most important! After all, if I attain the upper construction, the upper force, I have everything.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 8/28/20

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Question: How can we overcome suffering?

Answer: You overcome suffering by knowledge. If I know why, how, and toward what I am moving, I clearly understand my actions and the steps I take, and try to scrutinize and understand that the sufferings stem from the good Creator who pushes me toward the goal. But because I don’t want to advance toward the goal and resist this, like a small stubborn child, I feel suffering. Because I don’t agree with the upper providence, I summon sufferings unto me.

Question: Knowledge is the mind, the brain, whereas sufferings are feelings, the heart. If that’s the case, does the mind overcome the heart?

Answer: The mind manages the senses. We invoke certain forces through our correct intentions and the right actions that we perform in the group, and they change our feelings.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/18/18

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic of “Work with Faith Above Reason”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot, ‘Histaklut Pnimit,’ Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 4, Item 43″ 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Connecting the World in the Last Generation”  

Selected Highlights

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Everyone is connected and everyone is corrected. Only I feel that I am separated from others and I judge them from my own flaws. If I correct myself and correctly imagine the state of all of creation, then I will see the Shechina, the Creator’s revelation that dresses in all the creatures, unites them, and operates inside of them.

We build the upper world out of desires aimed at reciprocal bestowal to one another. This is “the soul.” We have to imagine a reality that’s different from the one we feel—one where everyone is connected together. That is how it in fact exists: as a unified integral world, but the ego separates me from this reality.

We do not enter the upper world, but build it. It does not exist in a ready-made form. All of the premises are ready for us to create it. We build the spiritual world from our will to enjoy, and make restriction, the screen and reflected light over it.

The higher our reflected light is, the better we will imagine what the upper world is. It does not exist prior to that. Everything exists only in our desire: either for the sake of reception, or for the sake of bestowal. There is also an upper source, but it does not exist in our desires and intentions in any way.

We have to imagine the difference between being “inside reason,” meaning our current ego-mind and heart, and “above reason” in bestowal. That is how we gradually start to come closer to the boundary separating “inside reason” and “above reason” to the transition from the corporeal world into the spiritual world.

I come out into the spiritual world, like into outer space in a space suit. Inside of the space suit is my small world. On the outside, there’s a world unknown to me. There, one is prohibited to exist in the ego-form. By rebuilding my feelings and reason from ego-use to the neighbor’s benefit, I neutralize my “I”—I don’t need a space suit. If I act not for my own benefit but for others’ benefit, there’s no reason for me to be isolated from them. They cannot harm me. On the contrary, I can use everything that’s there beyond the boundaries of the space suit, for everyone’s benefit.

I exist inside of my ego-desire, “this world.” There’s a reverse world where everything is opposite: instead of hatred, there’s love; instead of reception, there’s bestowal, instead of attraction, there’s repulsion. In that other world, we live not in order to do good for ourselves, but so others are well.

It is precisely thanks to being in an ego-body that I can imagine how I transform it to be like the Creator, in the quality above the ego, the quality of bestowal. I am therefore happy to feel myself in a greater egoistic shell each time and from it, to aspire to the Creator.

Nothing and no one forces me to it, it is I who try to find the forces to do anything for the sake of bestowal above reason. This is how the transition happens from reason into above reason, above desire. It’s a transition from the material world into the spiritual one.
The spiritual world is built above reason, above my regular desire.

I feel everything inside me resisting: I do not want unity, the studies, altruistic actions, dissemination, connection with the friends. I do not wish to make use of the means that bring me closer to the Creator. I see the resistance inside—it’s in my ego, but on the outside I do the opposite.

Prayer is work in the heart, since reason resists it and one must go against reason. I ask the Creator for the thing that my nature resists. Every prayer requires special work in the heart. I do not want to understand with my reason that I should work for the Creator; I want to work in faith above reason.

The Creator doesn’t get revealed as if He was some place far away, and I have finally come there and found Him. I have to feel the Creator inside of me, feel the quality of bestowal inside me. Whether the Creator is “close” or “far” from me—is whether I want to be like Him, for the quality of bestowal to rule over me?

If we wish to reveal the point in the heart inside of us, a part of divinity from above, the sprout of bestowal, then we have to exert many forces to this end and help one another in the group. We are cultivating the force of bestowal inside of us, like out of a drop of semen implanted in us, until it reaches the full measure called the soul.
From Twitter, 11/25/20

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